North Korea’s sinking of South Korea’s vessel Cheonan will not be met with opposition — not because “the good guys fear a fight,” as Benny Avni claims, but because the bad guys in Washington are clueless (“Why Kim Won’t Pay,” PostOpinion, May 24).

This is a far cry from Harry Truman’s 1950 response, “Let’s get them!” when he was notified that North Korea had attacked South Korea. Today, President Obama’s response is, “Let’s talk to them.”

Obama’s predictable non-response to aggression has emboldened our enemy to attack at will, unabated and without retribution.

Avni aptly concludes that, sooner or later, “we’re going to have to fight, with all the suffering that implies.”

We suffer now, or we suffer catastrophic results of Obama’s inaction later. But later won’t matter to Obama, because he’ll be out of office.

Elio Valenti

Brooklyn

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Avni’s crocodile tears for the South Korean sailors killed fails to impress.

In fact, given the clarity of Avni’s unhidden agenda, disgust might be a more appropriate reaction.

Just substitute Iran for North Korea and Israel for South Korea, and Avni’s real agenda becomes as transparent as the finest Waterford crystal.

How many more South Koreans are expendable, based on Avni’s calculations?

Steven Sica

Manhattan

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Our coward-in-chief is going to let North Korea get away with a blatant act of war and refer it to the corrupt and impotent United Nations.

We’ve sunk very low under this administration.

Dennis E. Van Horn

Lawrenceville, NJ

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Obama’s foreign policy of apology for perceived American transgressions has led to global derision and has emboldened rogue states to adopt thumb-in-the-eye tactics.

Thus, the North Koreans torpedo a South Korean naval ship without provocation and dare us to respond. Thus, Iran plays rope-a-dope with the West, while successfully pursuing nuclearization in the face of international reprobation.

A foreign policy of megawatt smiles, self-abasement and pixie dust succeeds more on ivy-covered campuses than in the real world of hard knocks.

There should be a strong response to this latest North Korean outrage, but North Korea, Iran and China understand Western culture better than we who invented it do. Living in the world of realpolitik, they formulate policy based on their comprehension of our weak resolve.

Expect tough talk in international forums, but do not wait unduly for anything with bite.

Paul Bloustein

Cincinnati

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The North Korean dictatorship has responded in this instance as it always does when it feels cornered, engaging in saber-rattling and threatening to ignite a potentially devastating war in the Korean peninsula.

If there is no price to pay for a criminal and wanton act of mass murder, the provocateur will kill again.

The world must not be seen as quaking in its boots when challenged by a bully.

Those nations that wish to be considered part of civilization — that must include traditional North Korean benefactor China — must unite to stomp on one of the greatest evildoers of the world.